


baby, tell me how high i must go

by jinxfabray



Series: the uni au saga [1]
Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Drinking, Established Relationship, F/F, I shouldn't be allowed to tag things, Morning Kisses, Uni AU, except then it goes from otp to ot3, idk - Freeform, moonsun are married in the background, there's kissing before teeth have been brushed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 12:43:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9324125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jinxfabray/pseuds/jinxfabray
Summary: they’ve been dating for so long now, joohyun and wendy, that seulgi doesn’t know why every little thing that reminds her of how serious they are makes her stomach do weird flips inside her.





	

**Author's Note:**

> so this is part of one very big uni au in which a lot of kpop people will be included because i love all of the ships and there is nothing i love more than getting to include people from other bands as background characters. everyone's gonna be in frats/sororities because having them all live in one place makes it easier but it is irrelevant for the time being.
> 
> thanks to sara and jasmine for betaing and for being always the most supportive!

seulgi is drunk. not super drunk, but she’s definitely having a little trouble keeping herself from giggling louder than she’s used to and things are becoming a bit hazy at the edges.

she didn’t mean for this to happen, but there’s something about parties at joohyun’s that make her feel the urge to find a beer. it might have something to do with the fact that the first thing she saw upon entering was three pairs of shoes she knows for a fact are wendy’s, and then she snuck into the bathroom only to find two toothbrushes lined up so neatly together it made her a little sick.

they’ve been dating for so long now, joohyun and wendy, that seulgi doesn’t know why every little thing that reminds her of how serious they are makes her stomach do weird flips inside her. it’s not like she’s in love with any of them -- she thought she was, for a while back in her first year, but that was just because she, byul and joohyun were roommates in the sorority house, and seulgi had to deal with joohyun getting scared during thunderstorms and sneaking into her bed demanding cuddles. it was hard. seulgi made it out alive, somehow.

wendy and seulgi had been matched randomly as lab partners and seulgi had been so taken aback by wendy being so ridiculously bright and gorgeous and feeling close enough to be throwing her arms around seulgi days after having first met. so maybe she had a crush, for some time.

but then wendy had joined their sorority as well, and joohyun had been assigned as her big. the second she locked eyes with wendy, seulgi knew she’d done well having kept her feelings to herself because they were clearly meant to be.

so here they are, and seulgi sits on a couch nursing a beer that could definitely be colder, some couple making out to her right, sooyoung on her left. she’s sitting on the armrest, her legs over seulgi’s, but she hasn’t taken her eyes off her phone in at least twenty minutes, and seulgi is getting bored.

“is dahyun feeling better?” she asks nudging at sooyoung’s knee until she gets her to look up from her phone. sooyoung had been seulgi’s little, once upon a time, and it’s odd seeing her be someone’s big but she’s so good at it, it makes seulgi’s heart feel all warm and proud.

“ah, yeah, but she didn’t wanna risk catching a cold,” sooyoung sighs. “she said i shouldn’t be stuck at the house just because she is but now she’s bored and i feel like i should go back.”

“i’ll tell joohyun, don’t worry,” seulgi says, patting sooyoung’s knee and smiling back when she grins at her, like she needed that little push to go fulfill her big sister duties.

“will you be okay getting home by yourself though?” sooyoung says as she gets off the couch, suddenly remembering they came with wendy but wendy’s probably staying over.

“i’ll be fine, don’t worry,” seulgi says, and sooyoung chews on her lip for another moment, but then her phone is buzzing in her hand again and she sighs. “i’ll get someone to walk me if it gets too late. there’s like, at least three of the girls here.”

“drink tons of water, unnie,” sooyoung says as she leans in to hug her, and seulgi can’t help but cling a little. alcohol does funny things to her.

sooyoung leaves, and seulgi could get up and go talk to someone else -- she knows everyone here, and she saw yongsun in a corner a while back, probably moping about byul being locked up studying for a final. she could keep her company, or she could stay here, in this spot of the couch, watching the way wendy’s hand brushes against joohyun as she passes her by, a light touch on the small of her back as if to remind her she’s there.

“that looks empty,” says a voice from above, and seulgi looks up to find yongsun grinning down at her like she heard her telepathically begging for assistance. “here,” she says, offering seulgi another beer which she takes with a grateful look and sitting down next to her.

“thanks, unnie,” seulgi says, taking a sip and doing her best effort to actually look at yongsun instead of letting her gaze drift away to where joohyun is now laughing into wendy’s neck. it isn’t that hard, yongsun’s got a beautiful face.

“you looked a little lonely,” yongsun says, and there’s something in her tone that makes seulgi raise an eyebrow because yongsun can’t possibly know. no one knows. she never told byul -- not even when she was rooming with her and joohyun two years ago, when she woke up to find them all tangled up in each other and gave them looks.

“sooyoung just left,” seulgi shrugs slowly, testing the waters, but yongsun holds her gaze steadily, waiting for her to keep on talking. “i don’t -- i’m not very good at this, the parties thing.”

“sure,” yongsun nods, and she finally breaks eye contact, scanning the crowd. “i mean, i clearly remember running into you at that one part in the house last weekend and you didn’t seem to be having any trouble socializing.”

seulgi breathes out and stares down at her hands. yongsun and her, they’re not exactly close friends, but with her being constantly glued to byul’s side, they’ve seen enough of each other through the years. she should’ve known yongsun could see through her, especially considering how bad she is at lying.

“it’s different, the house is literally my home and i know everyone there,” she says after a moment, not daring to look up because it is such a blatant lie.

“and joohyun’s is a foreign place?” yongsun asks, and seulgi feels like she’s transparent right now, her entire array of feelings and thoughts displayed for the whole world to see. she shouldn’t have drunk that last beer.

“i haven’t been here a lot,” she admits. “it’s weird, when someone moves out -- it’s like they go back to the real world and they become different people.”

“wow, thanks,” yongsun laughs, and seulgi turns a deep shade of red, shaking her head in a hurry.

“not you, god, and -- i guess joohyun hasn’t really changed at all. it’s just weird that she’s not around all the time anymore.”

they were discussing the party, not joohyun, but shockingly, seulgi’s turned her into the central topic of the conversation. brilliant.

“i think they might miss you too, her and wendy,” yongsun says softly, and she puts her hand on seulgi’s so gently seulgi feels like crying at the touch. it’s just regular handholding, but there’s something in the way yongsun’s looking at her, like she can see all of the emotional turmoil she’s buried under, that makes her feel strangely relieved and like she should just let go this one time. maybe if she cried it all out right here, on a warm, comfortable shoulder, maybe she could actually start moving on and let her two best friends be happy together without her.

(she thinks she catches wendy glancing their way for a second with something that isn’t exactly happy in her eyes but it’s probably her imagination. it must be.)

 

  
she’s not exactly sure how it happens, because she doesn’t drink much after that beer, but she must have been tipsy enough, and it had been a long day. there’s a moment in which she feels hands on her arm and she blinks awake a little, enough to spot joohyun trying to lift her up. she gets to her feet somehow, and in the background she can hear yongsun and wendy talk, yongsun saying something about heading to the house and wendy -- seulgi isn’t sure what wendy says, because she’s three quarters asleep and one quarter barely waking up, and joohyun is leading her so gently to her bedroom, that seulgi decides to ignore them.

she’ll deal with this in the morning. right now, joohyun is taking her shoes off and letting her cuddle up in her blankets, and seulgi is tired of not even trying to get the things she wants, so she’ll let herself have this one thing.

it’s a blur, all of that, and when seulgi wakes up the next morning she only remembers bits and pieces, and evidently not the most important ones, because she’s got wendy’s head on her shoulder and there’s a mess of blankets on her other side which if seulgi didn’t know better might lead her to believe joohyun was there as well. but that would make no sense.

zero sense.

none at all.

“ah, you’re awake,” joohyun says from the door, and seulgi startles, sitting up too fast for her head which can’t help but spinning, not with this situation mixed with her hangover. “i made breakfast.”

joohyun is saying it so calmly, with her usual beatific smile on her face, so seulgi figures whatever happened, it must have been alright. no one seems freaked out except for her, and maybe this is normal, maybe they’ve been friends for long enough that it is normal for them to sleep all cuddled up like that, like seulgi and joohyun used to do.

seulgi has it all under control, she just needs to take a deep breath and everything will be okay.

“no,” wendy mumbles, clearly struggling to keep her eyes closed and tugging at seulgi’s shoulder to get her to lie back down. “too early, no.”

“come on, babe,” joohyun rolls her eyes and seulgi’s face must fall at the nickname because joohyun gives her a look, even though seulgi doesn’t know that look means. it’s probably pity. it usually is. “we have to have breakfast, remember?” she asks, and there’s something in her tone that makes wendy stop whining and actually sit up, slowly, rubbing at her eyes.

seulgi figures joohyun must make very, very good coffee.

they sit at the breakfast table in awkward silence while joohyun fills up their cups and starts lining up food on the table, because her house is nothing like the house of any other twenty something seulgi’s ever met, there’s always food and clean plates at joohyun’s.

“sorry for falling asleep last night, you could’ve woken me up and i would’ve gone home, i didn’t mean to disturb,” seulgi says at last, when the silence has gotten too much to bear.

“you didn’t disturb us,” wendy says with a mouth full of cereal, and seulgi could never understand how she eats that for breakfast but she looks so adorable with her cheeks puffed like that, she just has to look away so she doesn’t stare.

“really, seulgi, you’re never a bother to us, there’s always room in my house for you,” joohyun says, sitting down next to her and giving her a warm look that makes seulgi’s insides tingle. it’s never been easy, being around them, but this morning is proving to be particularly hard.

wendy says something that seulgi’s wishful heart thinks sounds like “and in your bed”, but joohyun kicks her under the table and seulgi knows she couldn’t have ever said such a thing.

“thanks,” she mumbles, staring down at her cup of coffee, hoping her face isn’t as on fire as it feels.

“we actually, uhm. we wanted to talk to you about it,” joohyun says, her gaze carefully trained on seulgi. seulgi doesn’t dare look up from her coffee, inspecting every swirl of milk like her life depends on it. “we, uhm. we’ve been talking a lot, about -- about you.”

at this, seulgi does look up, but it’s because she’s panicking. they’ve been talking about her, and this can only mean they’ve noticed she’s a weird human being who fell in love with both of them and they’ve realized they probably shouldn’t keep her around because she’s clearly not a very good friend if she’s in love with each of their girlfriends. both of them. all of the girlfriends in this room, seulgi is in love with. her brain is collapsing, and she should’ve known they’d be kind enough to do this when they were alone, but the walk back to the house is gonna suck, and what if wendy decides to be selfless and move out of the house so she doesn’t have to keep running into seulgi and -- god. everything is falling apart, and seulgi doesn’t have enough friends to afford losing her two best ones, especially not when she loves them so much she can’t breathe without them.

“you look like you’re having an aneurysm and we haven’t even said anything yet,” wendy says, and it sounds teasing but she reaches over the table to grab seulgi’s hand, her eyes full of concern.

“please don’t ditch me,” is what seulgi doesn’t mean to say but ends up saying anyway because god, this can’t happen. “i know i fucked up, and i’m sorry, i swear i didn’t mean to like any of you because i knew we were meant to be friends and when you started dating -- if i’d had a choice, i swear on my life i wouldn’t have chosen to fall in love with people that are so happy together, it just happened, but if you want some distance, i’ll understand --”

“well, that makes everything easier,” wendy interrupts her, and seulgi’s eyes fill up with tears so fast it’s almost surreal. “fuck, no, that came out so wrong, i’m sorry, i don’t -- we’re not gonna ditch you, we don’t need distance.”

“we love you,” joohyun says, her tone calming, but seulgi can see her shooting out daggers with her eyes towards wendy. the way she’s caressing her back is doing wonders and seulgi actually manages to stop herself before she starts sobbing. “we love you so much, seulgi, but we never -- i never thought you liked me, because you never, all those nights at the house -- you barely looked at me, and you never said anything about liking girls, and i had no clue.”

“i kind of suspected it,” wendy says, her hand still on seulgi’s, squeezing it gently. “but then you introduced me to this dumbass and you were so excited about us getting on i kind of felt like maybe you were pushing me towards her so that i’d get away from you -- we know now it was silly.”

“i know you so well, i can’t believe i didn’t realize it was just you being you, thinking i’d be better off, right?” joohyun says quietly, and seulgi feels two tears slipping down her cheeks, but they’re not the sad, desperate ones she’d been holding. these feel different, even if she can’t tell with certainty where this is going just yet.

“i wanted you to be happy,” she manages to mumble, swallowing thickly. “and you looked so happy together, i never meant to intrude.”

“we’ve been thinking about it a lot, and we, uhm. we’d like that, if you wanted to intrude,” wendy says, her thumb tracing soft patterns on seulgi’s hand. “i love joohyun, and i know she loves me, but you -- i don’t know how this works, i just know i have been wanting to kiss you for a thousand years, and i know joohyun has too.”

“i don’t know what to say,” seulgi says, voice a little strangled by the weight of all these emotions that she’s still struggling to understand. “i’m afraid i’ll mess this up, if you already have something good, why would you risk ruining it with me?”

“we do have something good together, but it would be so much greater with you,” joohyun says, and seulgi doesn’t know when she scooted up this close but she’s got her forehead against her cheek, staring up at her through her eyelashes, and seulgi’s heart has never beat this fast.

“i’m so in love with you,” seulgi says slowly, wiping the tears that fell down, and this makes absolutely no sense at all, but wendy and joohyun are grinning at her like that’s exactly what they’ve been waiting to hear their entire lives, and she didn’t spend all these years trying to make them happy to fail them now. “i’m not sure how this works either, but -- it could work, right?”

“it will, of course it will,” wendy nods, lifting seulgi’s hand to press a kiss to her palm, sweet and filled with hope.

“are you willing then? to give it a shot with us?” joohyun asks, and something about the way she shifts her face so that it’s even closer to hers gives seulgi a boost of courage, and she leans in and kisses her, feeling wendy’s hold on her hand tighten up.

“yeah,” seulgi nods slowly as she pulls away, staring into joohyun’s sparkling eyes. she tastes like cinammon and vanilla and like half of everything seulgi ever wanted.

“wait up,” wendy says, letting go of her hand and getting to her feet, but seulgi is faster and she catches her hand again, dragging her back to the table. “i gotta brush my teeth,” wendy pouts, but she’s leaning in and there’s a smile she’s trying to fight hiding behind her pout, and seulgi has been dreaming of this for so long and yet it’s twice as good as she could have ever imagined, the way wendy’s lips brush against hers softly, and then they’re kissing for real, joohyun’s hand lingering on the small of her back as a reminder that she’s here, too, she’s in this with both of them.

“okay, now you can go brush your teeth,” seulgi laughs, pretending to be grossed out. wendy whines loudly, but then she’s heading into the bathroom  joohyun laughing and burying her face in seulgi’s shoulder to keep it under control.

“i have an extra toothbrush for you too,” joohyun says when she’s got her breath under control, her chin hooked on seulgi’s shoulder still. “wendy bought it yesterday, she said it was good luck if we anticipated good results from this intervention. i hope you don’t find that creepy.”

“i find that extremely lovely, thank you,” seulgi says, turning to press a tiny kiss to joohyun’s cheek.

“i love you,” joohyun whispers, putting an arm around her waist to keep her close, and their coffee must be cold by now, but seulgi needs a couple more minutes to let this all sink in, to let her heart get used to the fact that these are joohyun’s arms around her waist, and that is indeed the sound of wendy’s voice calling out as she comes back, yelling that her breath now smells like mint.

“i’m ready to be kissed by both my girlfriends now, please and thank you,” wendy says, and joohyun laughs, the sound going straight to seulgi’s fluttering heart, and it’s perfect. every bit of it.

 

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on [twitter](http://twitter.com/ofstellardust) pls and thank you


End file.
